America Tortures its POWs

Thanks to Nate Merritt.

AMERICA TORTURES ITS POWS former president Carter reveals


America Tortures Prisoners, Carter Says
CNN
Posted: 2007-10-10 20:01:44
Filed Under: Politics News, World News
WASHINGTON (Oct. 10) -- The United States tortures prisoners in violation of international law, former President Carter said Wednesday.


Photo Gallery: Former President on the Offensive
Alfred de Montesquiou, AP
Former President Jimmy Carter, seen here in the Darfur region of Sudan last week, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday that the U.S. tortures prisoners captured in the war on terror. "I don't think it. I know it," Carter said.


"Our country for the first time in my life time has abandoned the basic principle of human rights," Carter said. "We've said that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to those people in Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo, and we've said we can torture prisoners and deprive them of an accusation of a crime to which they are accused."

Carter also said President Bush creates his own definition of human rights.

Carter's comments come on the heels of an October 4 article in The New York Times disclosing the existence of secret Justice Department memorandums supporting the use of "harsh interrogation techniques." These include "head-slapping, simulated drowning, and frigid temperatures," according to the Times.

The White House last week confirmed the existence of the documents but would not make them public.

Responding to the newspaper report Friday, bush defended the techniques used, saying, "This government does not torture people."

Asked about bush's comments, Carter said, "That's not an accurate statement if you use the international norms of torture as has always been honored -- certainly in the last 60 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was promulgated.

"But you can make your own definition of human rights and say we don't violate them, and you can make your own definition of torture and say we don't violate them."

...Carter also criticized some of the 2008 Republican presidential candidates, calling former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani "foolish" for his contention the United States should be open to use force on Iran.

"I hope that he doesn't become president and try to impose his conviction that we need to go to war with Iran," Carter said.

CNN was attempting to get a response from the Giuliani campaign.

The former president didn't spare the rest of the GOP field either.

"They all seem to be outdoing each other in who wants to go to war first with Iran, who wants to keep Guantanamo open longer and expand its capacity -- things of that kind," Carter said.

"They're competing with each other to appeal to the ultra-right-wing, war-mongering element in our country, which I think is the minority of our total population."

Carter declined to say which Republican candidate he feared the most. (I would too. -NJM)

"If I condemn one of them, it might escalate him to the top position in the Republican ranks," he said. (Sounds exactly like the way the hawks think! -NJM)

Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois also drew Carter's criticism for refusing recently to pledge to withdraw all troops from Iraq by the end of their first terms if they win the presidency in 2008.

"I disagree with their basic premise that we'll still be there; I think the American people want out," Carter said. "If there is an unforeseen development where Iraqi people request American presence over a period of time, I think that would possibly be acceptable, but that's not my personal preference."

CNN's Alexander Mooney contributed to this report.

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The article below details the little known truth regarding the Fascist Nazi interests of George W Bush's Grandfather, Prescott Bush, as he and others attempted to overthrow the US government in the 1930s in order to install a fascist dictatorship. This is important in order to understand the true motivations behind The Bush Family and why they need to be stopped.
http://republican.meetup.com/boards/view/viewthread?thread=3317707

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This is one of the most well presented, clear cut, honest and compelling presentations regarding evidence as to the Controlled Demolition of the World Trade Center. Please watch if you have any doubts that the Towers were taken down by explosives.
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A President, or a King?

"There is nothing 'conservative' or 'tough on terrorism' in selectively stripping people of their rights." – New York Times editorial

Dear Friends of the Heart,
Congress gave away one of the oldest Constitutional rights. Tell them to take it back.

Congress made a terrible mistake last October, and allowed president bush to damage one of the oldest founding principles of our democracy. They gave the President the authority to seize people and hold them without ever explaining why – despite the fact that the Constitution itself says he should not have that power.

Now some members of the House have recognized how big a deal this is, and they're trying to set it right. Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) is beginning a fight to restore the right of habeas corpus, which Congress gave away.

Tell your Representative to Restore our Constitutional rights to habeas corpus.
http://action.truemajority.org/campaign/habeas_corpus

Maybe it sounds like a legal technicality, but the habeas corpus right is pretty simple, and pretty important. It is "the right of anyone who’s tossed in prison to appear in court and say 'Hey, why am I in prison?'."1

Without that right, people get thrown into places like Guantanamo Bay for years with no evidence other than the say-so of a bounty hunter collecting his $5,000 fee.2 And legal experts say that the law is written so that anyone, U.S. citizen or not, could get that treatment if she acts against the president.3

It's hard to write about even the basic facts here without sounding overly-dramatic, but this is how it is. One of the reasons that we fought the Revolution was so that a king could not imprison people without a court hearing. Taking away that right is not protecting America; it's dismantling it.

Congressman Nadler is trying to add language to an existing bill which would restore habeas corpus. If that fails, he promises to bring it up again, as an amendment. If that fails, there are new bills waiting which would undo the damage of last October's "Military Commissions Act." Send your message now to tell your Representatives to do what it takes to restore this cornerstone of American democracy.

Matt Holland
TrueMajorityACTION Online Director

1 - The death of habeas corpus - MSNBC.com
2 - The Shame of Guantanamo – Washington Post Writers Group
3 - Challenging the Military Commissions Act, Jurist, October 04, 2006
For More Information:
Article I, Section 9, Clause 2 of the Constitution of the United States:

“The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.”

Who's Really Locked up in Guantanamo?

Here's the message we'll send to your Representative:
The right of habeas corpus is one of the oldest founding principles of our democracy – the right of someone held by the government to ask why she has been seized. The Military Commissions Act cancelled that right, and I insist that Congress restore it. I urge you to support efforts by Rep. Nadler to add language which does that into the Defense Authorization bill, and also to back bills such as the Habeas Restoration Act.

If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for TrueMajorityACTION. TrueMajorityACTION.org is a grassroots group of citizens who believe in America's true values of openness, fairness and compassion. We believe participating in an effective government is the best way to be mutually responsible for our community.